'“The Navy is considering using this [the ACTUV] for a variety of missions,” Littlefield said, including mine countermeasures.

'He said using the ACTUV would cost about $15,000 to $20,000 per day, compared with a destroyer that costs about $700,000 per day to operate. He said that other advantages of the ACTUV concept include greater payload and endurance than a ship-launched unmanned surface vehicle, the ability to launch from and recover at a pier, and the elimination of the need to integrate the system with a ship.

'The 132-foot-long, 140-ton ACTUV is being built by Leidos at the Vigor Shipyard [formerly Oregon Iron Works] in Clackamas, Ore. The vessel is about 90 percent complete. The hardware of the systems is complete, with software being engineered presently.'